Witness: Caretaker said no body, no case

A jailhouse informant testified Monday that a woman accused of killing 4-year-old Florida foster child Rilya Wilson wasn't afraid of being charged with murder because she was confident the girl's body would never be found.

Convicted murderer Maggie Carr, who acted as a law clerk for prison inmates, said she had several conversations with Geralyn Graham in early 2005 about the law involving murder cases in which remains are not found. Carr, who is serving 25 years to life, said Graham was confident the body had decomposed and that no one would care because Rilya was only a poor foster child.

"She was nonchalant, like it didn't matter," Carr said. "They weren't lengthy conversations. They were snippets of conversations."

Graham, 66, faces life in prison if convicted of killing Rilya, whose body has not been found. Another prison inmate, Robin Lunceford, testified earlier that Graham confessed to smothering Rilya with a pillow and disposing of the body near water. Lunceford said Graham came to believe Rilya was evil because of her increasingly defiant behavior.

Investigators say Rilya was likely killed in late 2000, but her disappearance wasn't discovered by state child welfare officials until about 15 months later. The case resulted in a shake-up at the Department of Children & Families and the passage of several foster-care system reforms, including improved tracking of children.

Graham lived with Rilya's legal custodian, Pamela Graham, but was the girl's main caretaker. The two are not related but were lovers. Geralyn Graham has insisted that Rilya was taken for mental tests by a state worker and never returned, but investigators say there is no evidence of that.

With no body and little forensic evidence, the jailhouse informants form the backbone of the state's case. Like Lunceford, Carr said her life in prison has become more difficult because of her testimony for the prosecution but that she felt compelled to come forward because the victim was so young.

"It's a child. I didn't do it for myself, sir," Carr said of her decision to testify. "I've chosen not to be a coward. I'm trying to pay for the things I've done wrong."

Prosecutors hope to wrap up their main case this week. Graham's defense will then have its chance to put on witnesses. It's not clear whether Graham will testify in the case, which already has lasted about five weeks.